Shout-outs for May
Anjon Audhya
Anjon Audhya assumes inaugural role of vice dean for research
The role serves as the chief research officer for the school, charged with articulating the goals and vision of the school’s research enterprise to major stakeholder groups and planning for the long-term success and global impact of research activities.
Audhya, a professor of biomolecular chemistry, joined the school’s faculty in 2008. In 2019, he became associate dean for basic research in the school’s Office of Basic Research, Biotechnology and Graduate Studies and senior associate dean leading the office in 2021.
48 faculty honored with Vilas professorships and awards: The awards recognize standout research, teaching and service.
Twelve professors were named to Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professorships:
- Laura Albert, Industrial and Systems Engineering
- Rozalyn Anderson, Medicine
- Lesley Bartlett, Educational Policy Studies
- Nader Behdad, Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Joshua Coon, Biomolecular Chemistry
- Brian Fox, Biochemistry
- Judith Houck, Gender and Women’s Studies
- Katie Hustad, Communication Sciences and Disorders
- Young Mie Kim, Journalism and Mass Communication
- Lynn Schnapp, Medicine
- Jessica Weeks, Political Science
- Lian Yu, Pharmaceutical Sciences
Eighteen professors received Vilas Faculty Early Career Investigator Awards:
- Joshua Braver, Law
- Steven Hall, Plant and Agroecosystem Sciences
- David Harris, Surgery
- Andrew Hryckowian, Medical Microbiology and Immunology
- Tsung-Wei Huang, Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Shamya Karumbaiah, Educational Psychology
- Junsu Kang, Cell and Regenerative Biology
- Margaret Kerr, Human Development and Family Studies
- Sharon Yixuan Li, Computer Sciences
- Adeline Lo, Political Science
- Whitney Loo, Chemical and Biological Engineering
- Caroline Niziolek, Communication Sciences and Disorders
- Christopher Saldaña, Educational Leadership & Policy Analysis
- Aurora Santiago Ortiz, Gender and Women’s Studies
- Daniel Shapiro, Urology
- Jennifer Van Os, Animal and Dairy Sciences
- Zachary Wickens, Chemistry
- Colleen Witzenburg, Biomedical Engineering
Eighteen professors received Vilas Faculty Mid-Career Investigator Awards:
- Amaya Atucha, Plant and Agroecosystem Sciences
- Amy Bellmore, Educational Psychology
- Tim Bugni, Pharmaceutical Sciences
- Elena D’Onghia, Astronomy
- Diego Hernando, Radiology
- Chris Hittinger, Genetics
- Mikhail Kats, Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Paul Koch, Plant Pathology
- Rebecca Larson, Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies
- Jorell Meléndez-Badillo, History
- Nicole Nelson, Medical History and Bioethics
- Beth Nguyen, English
- Christopher Rycroft, Mathematics
- Miriam Seifter, Law
- Anne Marie Singh, Pediatrics
- Erica Turner, Educational Policy Studies
- Susanna Widicus Weaver, Chemistry and Astronomy
- Oliver Wieben, Medical Physics
Five UW–Madison professors elected to American Academy of Arts & Sciences
The election recognizes the UW–Madison scholars’ accomplishments in their respective fields.
The inductees are educational theorist Michael W. Apple, chemist Helen E. Blackwell, communication researcher Dominique Brossard, mathematician Jordan Ellenberg and geographer Holly Gibbs.
They join nearly 250 other newly elected members across academia, the arts, industry, policy, research and science.
Professor Stephen Kantrowitz will use the award — intended to be used to explore the causes of political polarization and to identify possible solutions — to research and write his fourth book, “Who is an American? The Contested History of U.S. Citizenship.” Photo: Jeff Miller / UW–Madison
History scholar Stephen Kantrowitz awarded Andrew Carnegie Fellowship
Stephen Kantrowitz, a professor of history at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, has been awarded a prestigious Andrew Carnegie Fellowship. He is one of 24 scholars the Carnegie Corporation of New York selected from among 381 nominations across the country.
Strier’s field research in Brazil has created a road map to help the critically endangered northern muriqui survive. Photo: João Marcos Rosa
Primatologist Karen Strier elected to the American Philosophical Society
Karen Strier, a Vilas Research Professor and Irven DeVore Professor of Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, is among the newly elected members of the American Philosophical Society. Her election is in the area of the biological sciences, recognizing the more than 40 years she’s spent in the field researching the critically endangered northern muriqui monkeys in Brazil.
Professor Randall Goldsmith in his lab. Photo credit: Eliana Stein
Professor Randall Goldsmith wins 2026 Guggenheim Fellowship
Professor Randall Goldsmith of the University of Wisconsin’s Department of Chemistry has been named a Guggenheim Fellow by the Board of Trustees of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.
His research spans physical, analytical, materials, and inorganic chemistry, as well as photonics and biophysics. This year, Goldsmith was also selected as the recipient of the 2026 American Chemical Society (ACS) Division of Analytical Chemistry Award in Chemical Instrumentation, a national honor recognizing transformative contributions to the development and advancement of modern chemical instrumentation.
Claire Wendland
Wendland receives 2026 Guggenheim Fellowship
Claire Wendland, MD, PhD, professor in the Division of Reproductive and Population Health and the UW–Madison Department of Anthropology! Wendland was selected as a Class of 2026 Guggenheim Fellow, as awarded by the Board of Trustees of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. She receives the award for her work in African Studies.
Wendland, who is a trained obstetrician-gynecologist as well as a medical anthropologist, has been an impactful researcher, teacher, and mentor, with a career focused on the complex relationships involved in practicing medicine on people around the world.
Ilias Diakonikolas
Professor Ilias Diakonikolas wins 2026 Guggenheim Fellowship
Professor Ilias Diakonikolas of the University of Wisconsin’s Department of Computer Sciences has been named a Guggenheim Fellow by the Board of Trustees of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.
Diakonikolas is the Sheldon B. Lubar Professor of Computer Sciences and a member of the theory of computing group, machine learning@uw-madison, and the Institute for Foundations of Data Science.
Diakonikolas works on the algorithmic foundations of machine learning and statistics. His research seeks to understand when complex learning tasks can be carried out efficiently, reliably, and with provable guarantees. A central theme of his work is the interplay between statistical accuracy, computational efficiency, and robustness: what can be learned from high-dimensional, noisy, or corrupted data, and what fundamental computational barriers stand in the way.